Switch 10 2015 confirmed to have Atom X5

As was easily predicted, the 2015 update for the mainstream Acer Switch 10 2-in-1 will include the Intel Atom X5 CPU. Expect more from Acer as Computex 2015 develops.

Aspire Switch 10 (2015 model)

The Acer Switch 10, a Windows 2-in-1 PC that’s been the most viewed product here for many, many months, will get an Atom X5 update bringing small improvements in graphics performance and efficiency. The Switch 10 remains unchanged in design (see my full review at Notebookcheck.net) so there’s not much to report in terms of ground-breaking news but there’s one thing that might interest you.

Intel Atom X5 is a full 64-bit-capable CPU, right down to support for 64-boot loaders (most previous generation Atom devices had problems with that bit) which means it will open the doors right up to alternative operating systems. The ConsoleOS Android OS, for example, along with Linux distro’s should boot more easily.

Diving into more geeky possibilities we see a possibility that Acer have unlocked the read-only recovery partition (many eMMC-based Windows PCs have a recovery partition marked as read-only and it’s the reason you can’t remove that partition on many Atom Z-series Windows 8 tablets.) Freeing up that space is important now that Windows 10 is nearly here. A 12 GB Windows 8 boot partition that you can’t remove is a waste, especially on a 32GB system! What’s more likely though is a that the new Switch 10 only starts shipping when Windows 10 is here.

Fingers remain crossed for a high-end version with 4GB RAM and an Atom X7.

We’re expecting Acer to give us more details on the Switch 11V from Computex which, with Core M inside, could be serious competition for Microsoft Surface 3.